A California lawyer listed at a Garden Grove address already had a "Consumer Alert" warning placed on his State Bar of California entry as the agency probes at least 15 instances of alleged unprofessional conduct related to mortgage loan modifications.

Yesterday, Stephen Lyster Siringoringo learned the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), an independent federal agency based in Washington, D.C., filed a lawsuit to win a permanent injunction against him and related businesses: Siringoringo Law Firm as well as Clausen & Cobb Management Company, Inc.

CFPB officials claim Siringoringo--a Whittier College School of Law graduate admitted to practice in 2009--used heavy marketing in English and Spanish to lure customers into paying initial, pre-contract fees between $1,995 and $3,500 and then $495 a month to negotiate with lenders, but wouldn't deliver on promised services.

Such conduct, according to the agency, violates federal Regulation O governing "mortgage assistance relief services" which requires pre-payment contracts and no deceptive practices.

R. Scott Moxley’s award-winning investigative journalism has touched nerves for two decades. An angry congressman threatened to break Moxley’s knee caps. A dirty sheriff promised his critical reporting was irrelevant and then landed in prison. Corporate crooks won’t take his calls. Murderous gangsters mad-dogged him in court. The U.S. House of Representatives debated his work. Pusillanimous cops have left hostile messages using fake names. Federal prosecutors credited his stories for the arrest of a doctor who sold fake medicine to dying patients. And a frantic state legislator literally caught sleeping with lobbyists sprinted down state capital hallways to evade his questions in Sacramento.